The Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) has threatened to challenge the validity of Namibian Marine Phosphate’s environmental clearance, citing unanswered information requests.
Lawyer Sisa Namandje, representing the federation, wrote to environmental commissioner Timoteus Mufeti yesterday, saying the CNFA had repeatedly sought information about Namibian Marine Phosphate’s (NMP) environmental assessment since May 2022 but had never received a response.
The lawyers say Mufeti had promised in July 2022 that a response was being prepared, but the federation was still waiting by the time the environmental clearance certificate (ECC) was issued on 5 August.
“Please take notice that the validity of your decision is to be challenged immediately,” the lawyers wrote.
They demanded a response from the environmental commissioner by close of business yesterday and said all the federation’s rights are reserved.
The ECC, which is valid until 5 August 2029, covers NMP’s proposed Sandpiper marine phosphate mining project under Mining Licence 170 offshore Namibia.
The federation’s lawyers accused the environmental commissioner of acting contrary to the requirements of fairness, transparency and reasonableness under Article 18 of the Namibian Constitution.
They also referred to a 2019 High Court judgement which states that when a public authority promises to follow a particular procedure, it should generally honour that promise.
The CNFA first wrote to Mufeti on 6 May 2022 seeking information on the environmental assessment process.
Among other issues, it wanted clarity on whether the assessment would cover both the marine and terrestrial components of the project and whether independent environmental scientists would be involved.
The federation also questioned how the environmental impacts of removing seabed material and returning mined slurry to the marine environment would be assessed.
A follow-up letter was sent in June 2022 after the federation said it had received no response.
According to the latest legal letter, the federation and its lawyers continued to seek a response, including through correspondence in July 2022.
The lawyers say the federation had a legitimate expectation that the environmental commissioner would respond before a decision was taken on NMP’s ECC.
The federation now says it was “surprised” when it learnt that the ECC had been granted while its information requests remained unanswered.
Princess Brand Processing general manager Adolf Burger says the mining licence area overlaps with an important area for larger horse mackerel and is significant to the wet horse mackerel (HM) sector.
“The NMP licence area is where the bigger horse mackerel are, which is a huge risk and also important area for the wet HM sector for survival. It will certainly have a very negative impact on our struggling wet HM sector,” Burger says.
He says the concerns had previously been communicated to senior ministry scientists during consultations.
He also questions whether marine phosphate mining was compatible with Namibia’s Blue Economy ambitions.
The Independent Patriots for Change has separately called for the ECC to be suspended pending an independent review, while Popular Democratic Movement leader McHenry Venaani has called for the environmental report behind the decision to be made public.
The Namibian contacted NMP shareholder Knowledge Katti for comment, but efforts to obtain a response were unsuccessful.
Mufeti and ministry spokesperson Vilho Hangula could not be reached at the time of going to print.
